Essential Oil of the Month: Clove

It’s that time of year, when rich scents like clove, frankincense and ginger show up in everything from your coffee drinks to sweet holiday candles. But these scents aren’t just about evoking warm memories—they also have powerful aromatherapeutic properties. Here are a few things you probably didn’t know about clove, our Essential Oil of the Month.

What it does
As you might expect, clove bud is warming, stimulating and energizing. It can soothe digestion, serve as an antiseptic and relieve pain. It also has strong anti-fungal properties, and is often recommended for Athlete’s Foot.

Bonus use
Clove oil can be applied directly to the gums to relieve toothaches or to soothe pain during dental work.

Ways to use it

Add a few drops to a diffuser to create a warm, invigorating aroma.

Mix a few drops with water and ingest to quell nausea and vomiting

Apply directly to warts, daily, to remove

Place cotton balls dipped in clove oil in spots where you want to repel bugs, like your food pantry

Blend with a carrier oil and apply directly to a painful area of your mouth to relieve toothache

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Interesting and good to know Dan. I was taught in massage school that people are not allergic to essential oils, so it’s good to know that fact is not 100% true. I would not want to make my clients ill. Personally I am highly allergic to fragrances people wear and get sick, so I know what mean. Essential oils, however, do not bother me.

While for some people clove oil has benefits, it also can be toxic and allergenic to many others, as can virtually all essential oils.
Hopefully, the Pharmaca stores won’t be spraying that oil around indiscriminately with their diffusers during the holidays.
Some of their management team don’t seem to be aware that many people with asthma and allergies need products and prescriptions from their stores and that the constant use of diffusers can cause respiratory problems for customers.
I have asked Pharmaca to change this policy of exposing customers without their consent because even organic essential oils contain VOCs — that’s what makes some of them so effective. (I owned a pharmaceutical-grade aromatherapy business in CA in the 1990s and did extensive research.) To date, no one has responded.
Furthermore, having a diffuser operating means that the residue settles on people’s clothing and in some cases is difficult to wash out.

Here’s just one description of the dangers of clove oil:

Some people are allergic to eugenol, and there is the possibility of anaphylactic shock if the allergy is very severe.